^45 [a] And the word of the Lord came to me: ^46 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)set your face toward the southland;^{[b] (C)}preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negeb. ⁴⁷ Say to the forest of the Negeb, Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, ^(D)I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every ^(E)green tree in you and every ^(F)dry tree. The blazing flame shall not be quenched, and ^(G)all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it. ^48 (H)All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.” ⁴⁹ Then I said, ^(I)“Ah, Lord God! They are saying of me, ^(J)‘Is he not a maker of parables?’”

The Lord Has Drawn His Sword

21 ^[c] The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (K)“Son of man, ^(L)set your face toward Jerusalem and ^(M)preach against the sanctuaries.^[d] Prophesy against the land of Israel ³ and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: ^(N)Behold, I am against you and will draw ^(O)my sword from its sheath and ^(P)will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. ⁴ Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. ^5 (Q)And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn ^(R)my sword from its sheath; ^(S)it shall not be sheathed again.

⁶ “As for you, son of man, ^(T)groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, ^(U)groan before their eyes. ^7 (V)And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news ^(W)that it is coming. ^(X)Every heart will melt, and ^(Y)all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and ^(Z)all knees will be weak as water. ^(AA)Behold, it is ^(AB)coming, and it will be fulfilled,’” declares the Lord God.

⁸ And the word of the Lord came to me: ^9 (AC)“Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord, say:

(Or ^(AG)shall we rejoice? You have despised the rod, my son, ^(AH)with everything of wood.)^{[e] 11} So the sword is given to be polished, that it may be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished ^(AI)to be given into the hand of the slayer. ^12 (AJ)Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people. It is against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. ^(AK)Strike therefore upon your thigh. ¹³ For it will not be a testing—what could it do if you despise ^(AL)the rod?”^[f] declares the Lord God.

¹⁴ “As for you, ^(AM)son of man, prophesy. ^(AN)Clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, ^(AO)yes, three times,^[g] the sword for those to be slain. It is the sword for the great slaughter, which surrounds them, ¹⁵ that their hearts may melt, and many stumble.^[h] At all their gates I have given the glittering sword. Ah, it is made like lightning; ^(AP)it is taken up^[i] for slaughter. ¹⁶ Cut sharply to the right; set yourself to the left, wherever your face is directed. ¹⁷ I also will ^(AQ)clap my hands, ^(AR)and I will satisfy my fury; ^(AS)I the Lord have spoken.”

¹⁸ The word of the Lord came to me again: ¹⁹ “As for you, son of man, mark two ways for ^(AT)the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come from the same land. And make ^(AU)a signpost; make it ^(AV)at the head of the way to a city. ²⁰ Mark a way ^(AW)for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, into Jerusalem the fortified. ²¹ For the king of Babylon stands ^(AX)at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults ^(AY)the teraphim;^[j] he looks at the liver. ²² Into his right hand comes the divination for Jerusalem, ^(AZ)to set battering rams, to open the mouth with murder, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, ^(BA)to cast up mounds, to build siege towers. ²³ But to them it will seem like a false divination. ^(BB)They have sworn solemn oaths, but he brings their guilt to remembrance, ^(BC)that they may be taken.

²⁴ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your guilt to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, ^(BD)you shall be taken in hand. ²⁵ And you, O profane^{[k] (BE)}wicked one, prince of Israel, ^(BF)whose day has come, ^(BG)the time of your final punishment, ²⁶ thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. ^(BH)Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted. ²⁷ A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. ^(BI)This also shall not be, ^(BJ)until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him.

²⁸ “And you, ^(BK)son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God ^(BL)concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; say, ^(BM)A sword, a sword ^(BN)is drawn for the slaughter. ^(BO)It is polished to consume and to flash like lightning— ²⁹ while ^(BP)they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the profane wicked, ^(BQ)whose day has come, the time of their final punishment. ^30 (BR)Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, ^(BS)I will judge you. ³¹ And ^(BT)I will pour out my indignation upon you; ^(BU)I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of ^(BV)brutish men, skillful to destroy. ³² You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. ^(BW)You shall be no more remembered, ^(BX)for I the Lord have spoken.”

Israel's Shedding of Blood

22 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “And you, ^(BY)son of man, ^(BZ)will you judge, will you judge ^(CA)the bloody city? ^(CB)Then declare to her all her abominations. ³ You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that ^(CC)her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! ⁴ You have become guilty ^(CD)by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought ^(CE)your days near, the appointed time of^[l] your years has come. ^(CF)Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ^(CG)your name is defiled; ^(CH)you are full of tumult.

⁶ “Behold, ^(CI)the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. ⁷ Father and mother ^(CJ)are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ^(CK)suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ^(CL)are wronged in you. ^8 (CM)You have despised my holy things and ^(CN)profaned my Sabbaths. ^9 (CO)There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^(CP)who eat on the mountains; ^(CQ)they commit lewdness in your midst. ¹⁰ In you ^(CR)men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. ^11 (CS)One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; ^(CT)another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^(CU)another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter. ¹² In you ^(CV)they take bribes to shed blood; ^(CW)you take interest and profit^[m] and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ^(CX)me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

¹³ “Behold, ^(CY)I strike my hand at ^(CZ)the dishonest gain that you have made, and at ^(DA)the blood that has been in your midst. ^14 (DB)Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? ^(DC)I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. ^15 (DD)I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and ^(DE)I will consume your uncleanness out of you. ¹⁶ And ^(DF)you shall be profaned by your own doing ^(DG)in the sight of the nations, ^(DH)and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁷ And the word of the Lord came to me: ^18 (DI)“Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^(DJ)dross to me; all of them are ^(DK)bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are ^(DL)dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, ^(DM)to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you ^(DN)in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. ²¹ I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it.